DARK NIGHT "BOXES" WILL GIVE WAY

"Even from a dark night, songs of beauty can be born."

Mary Anne Radmacher, author/artist

This truth is not always obvious, those "dark nights" not easy to live through.

Surrounded by box mountains about to fall down upon us.

However, night's do end, new days begin, we do get through.

Whatever today's burden, persevere; better times will come whether you believe they will or not.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

"If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them."

Dalai Lama XIV

However, before you default to the "do not harm them" part, really consider what you might do.

The world needs more mentors.

THAT'S YOU!

"My chief want in life is someone who shall make me do what I can."

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) U.S. poet/essayist/lecturer.

My initial reaction to this was, such a person does not exist.

My soon after conclusion was s(he) does exist.

We each are the person who can make us achieve our maximum potential.

The only person who can.

WHEN YOU CHOOSE, CHOOSE WISELY

"Predominant opinions are generally the opinions of the generation that is vanishing."

Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) British politician and author.

So, assuming you're part of a generation that will be around for awhile, what do you make of this?

Good the soon to be gone generation will soon be gone, or what can you learn from those left before they are all gone?

Your answer says much about your intelligence, or lack thereof.

THE TIME TO QUIT

"When I have fully decided that a result is worth getting I go ahead of it and make trial after trial until it comes."

Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) American inventor.

Let's be real; sometimes failure is the ultimate outcome.

Nothing wrong with that as long as it comes after too numerous attempts to count, certainly way, way after the first.

SO WHO ARE WE REALLY?

"We have too many high-sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them."

Abigail Adams (1744-1818) First Lady of the United States.

Many of the words you see in this photograph are carelessly strewn throughout the mission statements of so many companies.

What do they mean?

Simply saying them, putting them in a mission statement hung on the wall, telling employees "this is who we are", doesn't come close to making it so. 

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS?

"To reflect is to disturb one's thoughts."

Jean Rostand (1894-1977) French biologist and philosopher.

Which you might see as a problem if you feel your thoughts are always valid.

They're not, particularly the ones you have without the benefit of personal reflection and validation from others that what you think is right.

ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS BY LIVING AS THOUGH YOU ALREADY HAD

"If you want to be something, act as though you already are the something you wish to be."

Unknown

If you know enough about what you want to be to want to be it, you know enough to begin acting as though you already are it.

But don't just leave it at acting.

Actually work to become what you wish to be.

A TERRIBLE WASTE

"Waste is worse than loss. The time is coming when every person who lays claim to ability, will keep the question of waste before him constantly. The scope of thrift is limitless."

Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) American inventor.

I would hope so while not believing the "time" Mr. Edison refers to actually is coming.

Not yet anyway.

We live in a wasteful time and society, which is, itself, a terrible waste.

THE ESSENCE OF PLANNING

"It is advisable that a person know at least three things, where they are, where they are going, and what they had best do under the circumstances."

John Ruskin (1819-1900) English art critic.

If you never think, read about, study, or consider how to personally and professionally plan, remember this.

Planning in it's purest form.

IN FAVOR OF (PLANNED) ACTION

"You know more of a road by having traveled it than by all the conjectures and descriptions in the world."

William Hazlitt (1778-1830) British essayist.

Considered only as far as the statement itself, I agree; however there is a little more to it than just that.

If you know the "road" well and are fairly certain what you know hasn't changed, get on with what you wish to do.

But if you don't and you just start out, taking things as they come, you will undoubtedly encounter obstacles you may not be prepared to handle.

As is often true, the best course is a combination of two, in this case, preparation and action.

Prepare to go and go when you are prepared.

SOMETHING YOU MAY NOT KNOW

"It is what we learn, after we think we know it all, that counts."

Unknown.

I don't know that I understood this the day I graduated college. 

Maybe I thought my education ended that day.

But if either were true that was irrefutable evidence of how little I actually did know; how much I still did, still do, have to learn.

You don't have to go to college, but if you do, don't let it get in the way of your education.

"HUMANITY" IS YOU!

"Humanity either makes, or breeds, or tolerates all its afflictions."

H. G. Wells (1866-1946) British-born American author.

Replace "humanity" with "you" and you should understand this is really good news.

You are at the center of all your problems and so too is it true, you are at the center of all your problem's solutions.

WHEN OTHERS DON'T KNOW, MORE THAN WHEN THEY DO

"Perfect courage is to do without witnesses what one would be capable of doing with the world looking on."

François de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French writer

As it should be.

Who more important to answer to about you than you?

NO SHORTCUTS

"No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown."

William Penn (1644-1718) British religious leader.

In other words, you must work for what you get.

HARD EARNED RESPECT, ALSO GIVEN

"Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear."

Albert Camus (1913-1960) French novelist/essayist/dramatist.

I would argue there is no respect based on fear, unless the fear and supposed respect is that imagined by those who only observe others interacting with each other.

If so it is an illusion.

Respect, like money, is something we all must continually work to earn.

HOW FORTUNATE YOU (ALREADY) ARE

"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings."

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American philosopher/author.

Doing just that won't get you very far; there's much more to accumulating blessings than just counting them.

And only recognizing blessings, at the expense of addressing problems, is a sure fire recipe for failure.

But it is a start.

You recognizing how fortunate you already are sets a baseline for becoming as fortunate as you wish to be.

YOU MIGHT DARE BUT YOU'LL NEVER DO WITHOUT EFFORT

"The person who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore."

Dale Carnegie (1888-1955) American writer.

With emphasis on "do".

Many can "dare" but that alone won't get you far; you actually have to do something.

NOT HAPPY? CHANGE IT OR LEAVE IT

"It's not wise to violate rules until you know how to observe them."

T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) American-English poet/playwright.

By "observe" he means obey.

If you don't like the system, whether it be in your business or personal life, work to change it.

If you don't want to do that, leave and join a different system.

WHY NOT YOU FIRST?

"I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?"

Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) British politician/author.

Depends on why you're following.

You are if by "follow" you mean leading them to where they wish to be, where they are capable of going.

You are not if you "follow" because you don't want to do what you insist they do.

HOW LONG WOULD YOU PAY, GETTING LITTLE OR NOTHING IN RETURN?

"What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say."

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) U.S. poet/essayist/lecturer.

And what you don't do speaks pretty loud too.

Doing, not broken promises about things not done.

Not "explanations"; itself just a nice substitute for "excuses".

We are paid for doing what we say we will do to the benefit of ourselves and those who pay us.

Produce and you'll be paid; don't you won't, it's that simple.

BECAUSE THEY DON'T AGREE . . .

"We owe almost all our knowledge not to those who have agreed but to those who have differed."

Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832) British clergyman/sportsman/author.

Listen carefully to those whose opinions are different from yours.

They are your greatest source of knowledge.

WHAT YOU EARN, NO ENTITLEMENTS

"Rights that do not flow from duty well performed are not worth having."

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) Preeminent leader of Indian nationalism.

You'll never have those "rights", nor much of anything else, unless you do what others recognize as "duty well performed".

And that "duty" is not confined to what you do for a living. It includes your personal and professional relationships with all whose support you value, whose opinion of you matters to you.

Privileges, success, wealth, personal relationships; in short, everything you wish to achieve in life, comes from your hard work.

You are entitled to none of it, you must earn it all.